


A Million and One

by NellyNee



Series: Family Breakfast AU [2]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Characters and relationships to be added as we go, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family Breakfast AU, I'm not tagging noncon because nothing happens, Jack was serious in canon once and I'm running with that into a wall, Living Together, M/M, More ghosts this time I promise, Multi, No one is gayer for Vlad than Jack, OT3, Other, Pre-Series, Should I start tagging characters and spoil it?, but there are inherent consent issue that comes with a world that has people with possession powers, naaaaaah, so there's that, up through canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-08-27 07:40:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8392948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NellyNee/pseuds/NellyNee
Summary: Three weirdos live together, get married, buy at least one house, start a business, make both love and war, have several kids, many adventures, and occasionally kiss as they figure out this whole being adults in love thing. (Sometimes they fight ghosts.)Anthology continuation of A Million Points in Time. Little snippets into a world where Vlad has nice things, including a loving husband and wife in Jack and Maddie. (Based of Ghost-Chicky's Family Breakfat AU)





	1. Coffee

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is the anthology slice of life continuation of A Million Points in Time. Chapter's will be in roughly chronological order, but no promises. (I'll let you know when that's not the case of course)
> 
> Some chapters in this series will be VERY NSFW, and will be labled as such.
> 
> If you have any requests for chapters or scenarios of character you'd like me to explore please feel free to drop them off in my askbox at my Tumblr, Nellynee, or drop me a message I'm always chill to flail and have feelings about domestic OT3's. I've got a whole list of stuff to work on, but it could always be bigger, and it lets me know what's in most demand.
> 
> Just a small taste of what's to come. I started out writing about the first date and ended up waxing poetic for three paragraphs about coffee, so you'll get the rest next Wednesday. Winner for scenario submission will be announced then too!
> 
> (See Ghost-Chicky's art http://ghost-chicky.tumblr.com/post/57614417130/quick-sketch-of-2-of-my-3-bbs-in-the-morning for my inspiration for this little drabble)

Vlad stubbornly drinks his coffee black. Jack empties an entire sugar bowl along with a pot of coffee into the largest thermos Vlad has ever seen in his life every morning that he goes to work. He always sets a second pot to chug away in their little thrift store coffeemaker before he goes, somewhere between thoughtfulness and a habit. But Jack also has to leave at what Vlad likes to describe as “the asscrack of predawn” and depending on their own alarms Vlad and Maddie's morning cup has been sitting on the hotplate for hours and tends to be just on the mouth puckering side of burnt or stale. Or on some very memorable mornings, both.

 

Vlad prefers his own with whatever flavor of the week creamer he's spotted in the store whenever he's feeling cheap. A spoonful heavy cream and a pinch of cinnamon when indulgent. But even the grittiest of powdered creamers is a waste on the paint stripping concoction Jack manages to brew and Vlad drinks the first pot of the day with nothing more than the sprinkle of salt Vlad's mother always swore cut the bitterness.

 

Maddie has no such monetary compunctions. Whether she knows better or not, Vlad can't be sure, but ever since showing her the virtues of real cream and vanilla Vlad can't find it in himself to care. Not when he sets a steaming cup before her and she rolls it between her hands with relish, inhales the slightly bitter smell of true vanilla extract, and sighs like a woman finding benediction. Judging from the way she moans as she draws a deep and burning swallow, he's dressed it just right, and Vlad smiles with a bit of self satisfied victory.


	2. First Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exactly what it says on the tin, with a side order of first kisses as well. This was the chapter that originally started with the little coffee essay.

“So, Vlad, what are we doing tonight?”

“Tonight?”

He'd lying if he said he'd forgotten about tonight. He'd been thinking about nothing but tonight. But in his own way he'd almost thought they had forgotten. After accepting the date earlier in the week there hadn't been some exclamation of excitement or a big kiss. Maddie had smiled at him and squeezed his knee, Jack had done the same, and then Maddie had tugged the bills out from under her bottom and finished writing the checks to send out the next day, the fight from earlier having a big fat “we'll see how this goes” shaped pin stuck in it for later.

Either they're immune to the heavy atmosphere that sits in the air, or it only hangs over him. It wouldn’t surprise him. Vlad has heard it on the great authority of past relationships that there's something off about him when it comes to intimacy. He's ever aware of the clock ticking down to this all blowing up in his face.

More than once he's found himself pausing in an action, realizing he can give into the urge for a kiss on the cheek or a cuddle on the couch, only to to take a step back and wonder. They haven't acted any differently towards him, and for now that sits in the front of his mind, his inner voice whispering “you can't” until the moment has already passed. It would be very easy, had they changed their minds, to just pretend it never happened and go out without him, to let their regular schedules go back on course. It would be simpler for him too.

“The date we're going on?” Maddie smirks at him over the rim of her coffee.

Unable to handle the crinkle of her eyes right then, Vlad gets up with one last swallow of coffee before walking the few steps of open area into the two counters worth of space they call a kitchen. He grabs their frying pan and turner out of the dish rack and has butter heating before he gathers enough thoughts to answer. Not that he really has an answer.

“I'm not really sure, most classic “date” activities are for two people and what we're doing is unconventional at best.”

She hums her agreement. “There's still plenty we could do though, we could go bowling?”

“Jack has work today, I doubt his back can handle that.”

“Walk through the parks?”

“We jog through them together quite often Maddie.”

“The Movies!” She throws up her hands, but she's still smiling.

“That would be an excellent idea, if we hadn't spent the whole summer picking off the interesting ones in our spare time. Besides,” Vlad starts, with a bit of a frown, “ no one actually goes on a date to the movies to watch a movie. I'm pretty sure that counts as a two person activity.”

He was being serious, but she laughs anyways, and his lips turn up at the corners at the sound.

“What were you and Jack planning on before my, well...inclusion?”

“We usually just wing it, head out and see what sounds good. More often than not we end up picking a restaurant we've never tried and give it a chance.”

Vlad bites his lip in frustration and stirs the broken yolk of the egg frying in the pan until it mixes with the already half cooked whites. Scrambled it is.

“You two only eat out so much because Jack couldn't boil water if he tried, the only thing you can do is bake, and I refuse to be your personal chef.” Even as he says it, he lets out an exasperated huff as he realizes just what he's doing for Maddie. He turns the egg mash until the wettest part is facing the hot metal pan and cranks the electric coils down a far as they go before off, rather than dump it into the garbage in a big waste of food like he's tempted. “Besides we already do that together as well. I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out something special we could do I'm drawing a blank, we might as well have already been-” Vlad pauses, turns to look at Maddie with disbelief. Realization sparks in her face and a hand comes up to cover her mouth even as snickers sputter out of her. “Maddie, how long have we been dating?”

Horrible, wonderful gut punching laughter peals out of her and Vlad finds himself following suit, only to shush each other with barley stifled giggles when one of their neighbors starts pounding on the walls. Vlad saves the first round of breakfast, and throws another pat of butter in the pan and switches out the toast in the toaster for another round of bread.

“Vlad,” She says, voice a little thick through her amusement, “We're living together. We don't have to figure out if we like the same things or if we get along or do something “special”, we just go out and have fun. Besides,” She pauses, and he can hear her chair scraping the floor behind him as she stands. “I can think of at least one special thing we can do on a date that we hadn't done before.”

“And what's that?” he asks, genuinely curious. He cracks an egg directly into the pan and smiles when it doesn't go horribly wrong.

One of her hands threads its fingers into the long hair on the back of his head, the other comes across his front and under his arm to hook him around the back and turn him towards her.

She's got on a vibrant, threadbare tank top that's hasn't seen enough stain remover and is only good for sleeping in and he's pretty sure the nylon shorts she's wearing have been worked out in at least once since the last time she did her laundry. Her eyes have the lightly bruised look of someone who woke up earlier than they would prefer, the skin above her upper lip is bright red from the hot coffee, and her normally crisp mane of curls is a tangled and uneven mess on her head.

She smiles with the crinkle in the corner of her eyes and she's never been more beautiful.

She tugs on the back of his head, leans up a little, but slowly, hesitant, and there's a question in the air.

'Oh,' the realization hits, 'they've been waiting on me.' and that little voice that screams 'you can't' has always been easy to ignore when he wants something.

So rather than fallow that little thread of guilt that says 'this is Jack's girlfriend' that tugs him away, he lets her pull him down instead, hands coming up after only a second of hesitation and a quick fumble to rest on her wide hips.

Their first kiss is brief. A chaste brushing of lips that leaves a shudder thundering through him even as she plants another one at the corner of his mouth, on his lower lip just firmly enough to catch. A groan rumbles up to the back of his throat as he slots his mouth to fit against hers and her breath comes hissing out her nose. His hands clench with pleased reflex even as her arms hold him tighter and the pads of his fingers burn with the heat of her skin when one of his thumbs slips into the space between her shorts and shirt.

“You ruined it.” He can't resist murmuring when a misplaced turn of the head gives him room to think. “It's not special if you spoil it beforehand.” He punctuates by working his jaw just enough to tease the sensitive seam of her lips with suction, and is rewarded with the tip of her tongue dragging his upper lip in for just a second for an electric nip, and the vibrations of the laughter in her throat.

This is good. This is fantastic even. Past experience tell him escalate, but past experience was more often than not quick fumbling that was defined more by frustration than anything. Vlad feels no need to rush, perfectly content to explore the way her plush mouth molds against his, the way her chest arches into his when his fingers trace up her spine, the decadent give in the flesh of her hips.

“Vlad” she breaks away from him, and he chases the taste of bitter coffee from between her lips. Air floods into the space between them and it stinks of burning.“Vlad the food.”

_----_

“You guy's ready to go?” Jack can hardly contain his excitement, and despite the bone deep weariness he feels from a day on his feet, there's also a strong sense of anticipation.

It was practically all he could talk about today. He feels a little bad, because his coworkers all love to hear about ghosts. But you couldn't really blame him for being so pumped, when he's got two people at home that look like that?

Vlad's sitting at the kitchen table, picking away at University paperwork as he's prone to do when he has a moment to spare. Judging from the size of it Vlad's grabbed Jack's nylon jacket by mistake again, and Jack wishes he could look half as fine as Vlad does in khaki. Other than the occasional trim Vlad hasn't had a good skitch to his mullet in a while too, and Jack will be the first to tell him that it's a good look on him if ever asked. Vlad's always looked good, that's a given. He's got a confidence about him that he sports over his shoulders, well loved and comfortable and it leaves most people in his dust.

Maddie's just leaving the bathroom that sits nestled between their two bedrooms, a cloud of sweet smelling steam wafting behind her like a ghostly fog. Jack's got this small sinking suspicion that tickles playfully in the back of his head at times that his girlfriend might be a little bit supernatural. He knows it has something to do with hours of hair curlers and spray and careful application of makeup and lotions, but he can never understand how she can go from sleep rumpled and shower straight hair to a creature of perfectly quaffed curls and skin as smooth as marble in a matter of hours.

And damn if she doesn't look good when she cracks her closet open. He's sure he's seen that bright purple sweater that looks big enough to fit over her knees if she tried, as well as the white belt as wide as her hand and short skirt that makes her legs run for days into a pair of strappy heels, but he's never seen them in this combination. She's got nearly every plastic bracelet she owns stacked up on her arms.

“Gosh Maddie, you're a cold woman.”

Vlad's gone and opened his mouth before Jack can, but he's not about to disagree with the sentiment. Vlad's abandoning his seat at the kitchen table, using an elastic band to pull all that white hair back into a messy bun, shorter hair precariously swept back against his skull with gel. He looks damn good too, but Jack refrains from pulling him close and giving him a peck on the lips the way he does Maddie. “Not so fast” Maddie says time and again. Jack sort of gets it. With the two of them coming from both sides Jack could see someone getting overwhelmed and going with the flow. But Vlad's not like that, too sure of what he does wants and how to get it to be anything but forward if he didn't want this. Jack's fairly pining for a moment alone with the man so he can kick the ball into Vlad's court.

Jack nearly has a heart attack when Vlad shares this look with Maddie before sliding up and under Jack's arm, but before it really sets in Vlad's already darting out of his hold, prominent nose wrinkled and sniffing faintly.

“It doesn't matter where we go, we aren't leaving until you have a shower.”

Jack sniffs at himself a little, and yeah he can see that. He'd normally care more, but Jack's fairly certain that if he sits down at this point he's not getting back up for the rest of the night. Besides his work jeans don't quite stand on their own yet and pit stains on a tee shirt don't matter if you wear a button up over it. The last thing he's wants to do right now is reschedule because his knees want to veg.

“It's already past six, I just wanna motor out.”

“No.” Vlad sticks his finger up in Jack's face, cutting him off, but he's looking at Maddie. “No. I won't be seen with him in public like this. Shower, now.”

“I'll set out a change of clothes for you Jack” She kisses him on the cheek, and Jack whines in protest, but he steps into the still steamy bathroom anyways.

The hot water feels like heaven as the twelve hour day's worth of dirt and sweat slough off him. He tries not to linger, very aware of the ticking clock and his rumbling stomach, but the water does go lukewarm before he drags himself away, and when he does there's a fresh towel on the toilet lid, which he'd forgotten, and a pair of slacks and shirt sitting on top. It's one of his favorites, orange and green and louder than his hazmat, which is suspiciously missing. Jack makes a mental note to ask Maddie where it went later. Ghosts could attack at any moment after all, and it's best to be prepared.

(“Maddie” Vlad groans into his hands after Jack disappears into the shower, “He smells like man.”

“I'm aware.” she laughs, and when she slings her arm over his shoulder in an exaggerated show of camaraderie he digs his nose into her neck.

“God.” He breaths out, but says no more.)

_----_

“Why don't we chill out here for a while?”

In the end they'd taken a cab to the University, and headed up State Street on foot in hopes there'll be something happening in the Capital Square if whatever was on the street hadn't caught their eye. It's comfortable, the familiar path lit bright in the evening and full of energy, window shopping in the setting sun and bright neon and making their unhurried way through the crowd.

Maddie hadn't actually expected to end up at the movies. Vlad did have a point, in that most of the spare cash they dig up goes towards the occasional outing together, and time and diligence has put quite the dent into the current movie list for new things to watch. So she's a little surprised when he suggests it. A little less so, when Vlad catches her eye from the other side of Jack and nods up towards their companion. Jack's been in good humor all night so far, but there's been a line of exhaustion between his brow since he got home. Looking at him now, it's really apparent that he needs to sit, and soon.

The group of movie posters is pretty small, which is understandable, as this place is cramped into a small venue with the countless other tourist traps lining State Street. It's got good atmosphere though, and so they've come here once or twice already. There's an advertisement for the sequel for some gory movie that she's never seen coming out soon, or the other sequel movie about aliens (appropriately called) that the mother's at the dojo she works at complain about their children wanting to watch. They've already seen the David Bowie movie with puppets. That one she and Vlad had both liked. (He claims a fascination with all things supernatural, and the appreciation of breaking down fairy tales; She's more than willing to admit that the tights have something to do with it as well). Jack hadn't been a fan, and it's tempting to suggest it just so he has an excuse to close his eyes for a while. She nearly drags them further down the street to find something for dinner when the listing for the current time catches her eye. Her eyes dart up and down the posters until she finds the appropriate title, and grins when she finds it.

Her first thought is that this movie is going to be a blast, but then this niggling little idea wiggles into her head, a reminder of what Vlad said earlier, and her grin widens.

“Oh yes, Haunted Honeymoon sounds very entertaining.”

“What?!” Vlad squawks at the same time Jack lights up like a child at Christmas and exclaims in joy. “Absolutely not!” Vlad tags on, but Jack is already dragging them towards the ticket booth.

“It's a Gene Wilder film, how bad can it be?” She shrugs when Vlad rolls his eyes.

It doesn't really matter if Vlad is interested in the movie. Maddie has an idea and this way she gets a show even if the movie is a bust.

_----_

This movie is hilarious and Maddie is never going to let him live it down. There's certainly something about Dom Deluise in a dress that screams of comical genius. The seats are packed but he doesn't feel bad for his ugly laughter, not when everyone else in the theater is practically screaming with it. Vlad's just glad it's so dark, he's gone invisible three times trying to catch his breath. The only one not laughing himself to death is Jack, who is shoveling popcorn into his mouth by the fistful and faithfully waiting for the first ghost to appear so he can analyze it's authenticity.

Aunt Kate declares her knowledge of a werewolf in the house just in time for tea on screen, when Maddie's hand touches his thigh to get his attention.

“I'm going to go powder my nose, be right back. You need a refill?” Vlad glances down at his still full popcorn, tips his heavy drink to get a feel for it, both forgotten in lieu of the movie, and shakes his head in the negative. Rather than get up, Maddie leans in until her lips brush his ear. “Remember what you said this morning, about how people don't go on dates here to watch the movie?”

It takes him a moment to connect the dots, but by that time she's already leaned forward more, further than she would if she was making a move. So he's curious when, having practically crawled into his lap, she pinches Jack lightly on the bicep to get his attention.

“Jack.” She drags out the A in his name with an inflection to tease. “I kissed Vlad today while you were at work.” she sing songs.

A little bit of that panic in the root of Vlad's ribs flairs through the heavy high of laughter. It's the same emotion that's been festering a bit for the last few days, the heavy emotion that sits on his shoulders. It's one thing to say they're all dating, another to kiss Maddie in a private moment in the kitchen even. Vlad is a man already well acquainted with the monster that is jealousy, and it's not an easy beast to just will away.

But even in the dark Jack's face is one with few hidden depths.

“Shut up, without me?!”

He's not hurt, or offended, or any of the other secret emotions Vlad was sure he was hiding to keep the peace.

Instead he pouts in an over exaggerated manner and turns the full force of his pleading look at Vlad, who's amusement is quickly rising again. He's reminded of just this morning, that question in Maddie's eyes and the realization that they're tentatively handing him the reigns.

When he tugs lightly on the long hair just under Jack's ear, he intends a small peck on whatever bit of skin he manages to hit in the dark. It's supposed to be the punchline of the joke, an emotional tease, something small and safe in this place that's as dark and private as it is public. A thrill runs up his spine at the prospect, as dangerous as it is novel. Kissing a man, kiss Jack, in a place anyone could see.

He catches that wide mouth with frightening accuracy, laughs from nothing more than happiness when he realizes he can feel Jack's smile. Just as he's about to lean back his whole world suddenly pitches forward. There's not even a grunt of effort when Jack grabs him by his arms and pulls him into the kiss so thoroughly that Vlad ends up in his lap.

It's greasy at the edges with popcorn butter, lips gliding effortlessly for the first few pulls. Jack kisses the same way he does everything in his life. Two feet forward, as quick and as hard as possible and with no regrets. There's a hand gripping the back of Vlad's head, an arm around his back, and both are holding him there and up with the immovable surety of steel; There's a broad tongue before he's ready, tracing the edge of his gums until his spine tingles, dragging over his pallet to steal his breath. Jack retreats just enough to get another angle, start another kiss, find a new way to make Vlad's mind short out. It's not that Jack is overly talented, not that Vlad would have enough recent experience to know, it's just that it so much all at once, all he can do to just wrap two arms around Jack's neck and be devoured.

Jack kisses like a riptide, pulling back just far enough to make way for the next wave, the surface just a glimpse of sunlight and hope for air before it's washed away and leaves his lungs screaming.

It's not a conscious decision on Vlad's part, more his body's self preservation kicking in. His head falls cold through Jack's grip and Vlad sucks in air like he's dying, bent backwards over Jack's arm.

Jack falters just long enough for the wave to gather strength before it's surging forward again, mouth attaching itself to the soft spot below Vlad's chin and shaking him to the core.

“Heaven's above, Jack.” he gasps as if air is a thing that he'd only dreamed of until now. Maddie giggle's beside them, eyes full of the kind of merriment that screams of her own experiences under this force of nature, hand darting out to tweak his nose before she turns back to the movie. She's taken his seat, and Vlad thrills at the thought of weathering nearly an hour of this storm even as he dreads it.

He bides himself time by turning away from Jack's mouth, counting the kisses it takes to span from wide collarbone to ear, mouths at the hard muscle across Jack's shoulders and does his best to distract even as Jack sucks a bruise next to his adam's apple with the sort of laser focus that normally comes hard to the man.

Slowly, too slowly, not slowly enough, Vlad gets a fist full of Jack's hair and holds, catches his mouth with a light sucking of lips and weaves in and out until Jack finally gets the flow of it and stops surging forward with every bit of slack he gets, lets the kiss be just a very thorough distraction and not a passion.

_----_

By the time they leave the theater the bars are filling with chatter, the clubs are spilling music from every window, and the restaurants, while not closed, are bustling with a half drunk crowd. Not normally a deterrent for people their age, but Jack's schedule is stuck hard and fast with early bed times and early alarms, Maddie often wakes with him for company and has gotten used to productive and exhausting days of prep work and commuting, and Vlad's energy levels are a mystery to himself even at the best of times. State street is no small walk either, so rather than stop for dinner and suffer their feet, they grab a box of donuts from a late night bakery for the morning and promise themselves the half a box of pizza still in the fridge

_----_

Jack makes a valiant effort to stay up, he really does. He makes it to the front door more or less straight backed (and here is his mistake, the ten or so seconds his lets his forehead rest on the cool stone wall while they wait to be buzzed in. In that time sleep sinks its claws into the back of his eyes as deep at they can, and it settles over him even after he shakes himself awake.)

When they reach the apartment door he's still pretty coherent, but his cloudy minds and lead limbs hesitate too long to get that first good night kiss from Vlad, which is too bad. It was a pretty awesome date and no one's going to stop him anymore, so he figures he should get them in pretty often.

But he drains quickly. A shuffle of his feet to kick off his boots, a very satisfying plop onto the covers of his bed, and he's asleep before the minute is up.

_----_

It's a little awkward. Maddie already has her belt off and leggings down her thighs before she remembers Vlad's still there. There's that moment where they stare at each other, looking for a hint of where the other's boundaries lie. He _almost_ gets up to leave, she _almost_ keeps changing right there, before she shimmies the leggings back up and grabs the first tee shirt and pair of sweat pants she can find in the basket full of clean laundry.

“I'll just go slip into something a bit more comfortable.” She teases over her shoulder on her way out the door, waving the cream pair of pants and cotton shirt behind her like it's lace and silk. He chuckles, and sits back down.

They end up nearly on top of Jack. He's just too big and spread out and the bed too is small for anything else. Vlad made a valiant effort, sitting on the edge and leaning forward so pizza crumbs wouldn't end up in the sheets. Maddie just bends around Jack, knowing full well that whatever wakes him would wake him only if he wanted, and eventually Vlad gravitates deeper into the mattress.

Maddie hums into the spot on Vlad's chest that she's been practically chewing on for the last fifteen minutes, more lazy and tired in the dark than anything full of heat. Her fingers come up to cover what is probably a very impressive hickey, judging by the occasional flair he gets from her path crossing with the trail Jack has already blazed, the same sensation he gets when those fingertips press lightly on the cooling spot her mouth has left behind.

“That's totally wicked.”

He makes a questioning noise, lulled by the box of heat surrounding him on both sides.

“They glow.”

He tenses, now wide awake, and tries to sit up, needing a mirror. He hadn't had a flair in weeks, and even those looked more like regular pimples than any sort of ecto infection. There were less of them, smaller than before, he was getting _better_. Maddie's arm shoots out and around his chest before he can, holding him down through the initial panic and keeping him from jostling Jack too bad.

“No, no! I didn't mean, it's not like that Vlad.” She leans up on her elbow and covers his hand where he's feeling along the bruises on his neck, trying to find lumps. “I know what that looks like, it's just bruising.” Pushing his hand aside, her plush lips find the spots on his neck and presses against them. Vlad winces, a nauseous flash of an image running through his head, open sores and puss filled zits, but Maddie isn't that dumb or selfless, and he lets himself be soothed.

“I talked to Dr. Adam's lately. He says the levels of ectoplasm in your blood is slowly rising. It's going up even though the acne is disappearing.”

She doesn't finish her thought, just lays her head back down on his shoulder, fingers petting at one of the dim points of light coming from his skin and quietly dozing. He's not sure he wants her to finish anyways. He's been trying very hard to not think about what that means for a while, and he knows exactly the kind of directions Maddie's curiosity takes her. That conversation could go a number of ways, and he doesn't want to have it right now.

“Stay the night?”

He might have, if she hadn't said anything. Might have closed his eyes and just fallen asleep there, woken up the next morning a little surprised and embarrassed with a crick in his neck but with a new hurdle jumped. He could still, just unbutton his khakis and sleep in them, but he doesn't.

She could mean a couple of things in that loaded sentence, and right now he's not ready for either option. It's not as big a deal as he's making it out to be, even just sleeping here, but it feels like a waste, waking up to Jack already gone or as he's rolling out of bed in the morning. It's not the only reason, but it's a good excuse.

“Before school starts,” he starts to shift away, “one of these nights when you both have the next day off... we can figure everything out all at once, ok?”

She grunts with dissatisfaction even as he kisses her forehead, and closes the door behind himself.

(Later, just as sleep claims her, that's when it hits her, that relief. It wasn't a real fear she'd realized, more of a subconscious understanding, that maybe Vlad was playing along to get to her. She closes her eyes and brings up the image in her head of Vlad's faintly luminescent blush in the dark theater, breath hitching and lips wet and reflecting the light from the screen in stark contrast. She plays it against the way Vlad had looked at her, prods that gut feeling inside for any sort of doubt. It's not the same look, but it's still a good one.

She rolls over, even if they're crooked on the bed and her feet hang off, and tucks herself up behind Jack, throwing an arm under his and over his chest and pressing an affectionate kiss between his shoulders before settling with a sigh.)

_----_

Walking into the bathroom, he gets a weird sense of deja vu. Growing up in the mid west farm country, he's used to that odd month after the first freeze where he still covers his drinks and sees flies in every dark speck out of the corner of his eyes. It's the same sensation now, that fumbling moment in the dark when his hands are looking for the light switch, and his heart jumps at the glowing specks the same way it always does when he wakes up in the middle of the night and sees his infection in the mirror. Unlike the acne though, it disappears when the light turns on, but his heart beats a touch fast for a while more.

She's right, it is different. With the lights on, the blotches on his neck and chest look the same as the one's Jack is wearing right now. In the end, there's probably such a thing as too much enthusiasm, and he's sure by morning it's probably going to look like he lost a battle with a vacuum cleaner.

It's when he flips the lights off again and leans in, arches his neck to get a good look, when he sees what she's really talking about.

When his illness rears it's ugly head, the points of light under his skin are a steady, harsh glow that gradually gains strength the further the puss and ectoplasm works it's way to the surface, a ball of steady light.

This is much dimmer, little threads running over the surface of his skin, broken blood vessels spreading out across his shoulder like little dots of bright green ink dropped onto a damp piece of paper.

It's kinda pretty really.

Vlad presses his fingers into one, comforted by the soft achy texture of a bruise over the hard infected sting of a sore.

_----_

(Jack wakes him with a kiss.

“Sorry” Jack says, when Vlad blinks at him sleepily. The room is still dark, the sun yet to rise for another couple of hours. “I didn't give you one at the door last night, bad manners for a good date.”

Vlad smiles, makes a noise somewhere between a hum and a chuckle and slips back into sleep before Jack is out of his door, and when he wakes again he's not sure if it was a dream.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Overall, this was probably my favorite chapter to write, right up there with the first chapter.
> 
> Unfortunately, this is as far as I've written beforehand, so updates will be much more sporadic. The next chapter is about halfway done, but it's like pulling crocodile teeth let me tell you...


	3. A (Really Bad) roadtrip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe someday they'll be ready? But now is not that time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In 1987 the steep roads to mound hill castle in elk mound wisconson were closed due to “dangerous conditions” after several accidents, and it's rumored that a young man fell to his death from the top in the 1980's. Being 1986, it was almost too good of a coincidence to pass up.
> 
> And wow, in the end this was longer, darker where I didn't want it to be, and not as dark where I did.
> 
> Note to self. STOP MAKING PROBLEMS IN THE SELF INDUGENT SMUTT/FLUFF AU.
> 
> Stop it.
> 
> But here you are, since you were all so nice waiting after the schedule fell through, an extra long chapter.

 

 

They get up at seven am so they can have some time to relax, eat a nice breakfast, and be on the road by ten.

 

The sun is shining, the birds atwitter in the lush late summer leaves, and everything goes wrong.

 

Vlad gets up at 9:20 despite being woken multiple times. Jack's bag has to be repacked when it fails inspection and Vlad spends a half hour arguing with the rental worker when they're late for the car and end up with something a third of it's promised size. Maddie and Jack argue about where bags should go, neither of them willing to give up this toiletry or that leg room, shuffling the same suitcase in and out of the trunk while Vlad feels slightly sick with the domesticity of it and naps from the front seat of the rented Station Wagon.

 

They leave at one, and then it's Vlad and Jack's turn to argue; Jack wanting to plow right through to their destination at break neck speed. Vlad is gradually becoming more and more sure that the sick feeling in his stomach is blooming to nausea with every tick above the speed limit Jack goes.

 

_---_

 

“But I'm driving.”

 

Vlad pants behind the wheel, having run at full speed both to and from the restroom. He'd even phased through the door rather than risk the time it would take to get the key from the worker behind the counter. If he has to spend another two hours weathering the way his stomach flips at 100 miles an hour and the spikes in his heart rate every time they nearly clip another car he's going to hurl. He glares at Jack through the window, who's eating powdered donuts from a cellophane wrapper and pouting at the drivers side door.

 

“You're insane. You can either fight Maddie for the front or get in the back, but if you try to drive ever again you will be asking for a fresh one. Do you hear me?”

 

Maddie blows a raspberry in their direction, having fought tooth and nail for her spot and a bit catty from it, and sticks the half chewed stick of jerky back in her mouth.

 

_----_

 

“ _She seems to have an invisible touch, yeah. She reaches in...”_

 

“What's this song called? I want to add it to my ghost mix tape.”

 

“Jack, no.” Vlad wheezes.

 

“You have a ghost mix tape?” Maddie asks, entirely too excited.

 

_----_

 

Vlad groans as the same warbling syntho beat starts up for the fourth time.

 

“Jack, is your ghost mix tape just the Ghostbuster's theme on repeat?”

 

Jack grins at him from the rear view mirror, and Maddie laughs and cranks up the volume until the car shakes.

 

For some reason, he doesn't throw the tape out the window and starts singing along instead.

 

_----_

 

“This was supposed to be a three hour drive.”

 

Vlad stares in horror as the line of inching traffic is packed all the way over the hill about a mile up the road. There's no telling how far it goes.

 

Grinning at him, Jack throws his arms over Vlad's shoulders from behind the seat. Jack has been petitioning for the last half an hour that they should just drive around it and is more than ready to take the wheel back. Maddie has her feet up by the windshield and everything up to her shoulders out the window.

 

The music crests, and both Jack and Maddie bellow loud enough that the car next to them honks their horn.

 

“ _And I can't fight this feeling anymoooooore”_

 

Vlad stops fighting the feeling, and bangs his head into the steering wheel until the endorphin rush of dying braincells outweighs the incoming headache.

 

_---_

 

“ _Whoooooah, we're half way there, WHOOOOOAH, LIVIN ON A PRAYER! Take my hand and we'll make it I swear...”_

 

(They miss the the last rest stop for a while, and the next one is closed. Jack has cracked open at least half a pack of diet coke, and Maddie has finished almost every can that's gone a little warm. The detour off the highway to find a place to pee takes 40 minutes, and it ends up being a bush off a dirt road.)

 

_----_

 

By the time they get to the town the three hour drive has become five, and they get lost trying to find the only motel. They get directions at a winery and end driving in circles until 6 pm, ten miles out of town to a little hole in the wall that looks questionable from the outside. It's another 15 minutes before Maddie deems the place bug free and even longer until Vlad finally stops peeking behind drawers and in the creases of bedsheets and finally settles. Just as soon as they settle, they're out the door again, anxious to do what they had come for.

 

It's somehow easier to find their destination than the human made hotel. The road is a little lost in the evening woods, but it goes on forever and once your on it there's not really any way to get off it and find yourself lost. The forest is dense, a dark and cool green with the occasional yellow or gold patch of a tree eager for the coming autumn. The farther they go the more worried Vlad gets about the ride down in the dark, with it's steep inclines and sudden turns that come out of nowhere. Every now and again the road bends harshly and they get the glimpse of the top of a tower.

 

The tower, it turns out. When they'd pulled up pictures in the library of the supposedly haunted castle, the angles had been very flattering. They had all assumed, in a way, that the pictures were all portions of a finished building, not just different angles of the same two story rectangle.

 

“Aw man.” Vlad bemoans when they pass the tower on the way to the designated parking lot. Maddie makes an inquiring noise, having not seen it from her side of the car, but the catch of it Vlad had gotten coming around the corner hadn't been encouraging. Vlad had known that the tower hadn't been as big or intricate as the high traffic hotels and asylums but this was a little much. Vlad and Maddie were of much the same vein, more worried about the actual presence of ghosts than their surroundings, but Jack had spoken of nothing else but this trips for weeks, and Vlad knew what Jack wanted out of it. Twisting hallways and creaky doors, adventure and intrigue. _A_ _tmosphere._

 

Parking the car is easy in all the empty space, the mid day tourists long gone. They had worried at the motel that there wouldn't be enough sunlight to scope out the place, but the building looks barely big enough to contain the stairwells leading to the roof. Two hours would be more than enough, since they didn't own any detection equipment.

 

“Heh, nowhere to hide now.” Jack says from close by, his face satisfied and eyes glowing with excitement.

 

Maddie and Vlad share a look of relief before Maddie waggles the flat box in her arms coquettishly and lead the way.

 

_----_

 

They look the place over, because even if it wasn't what they had imagined, it's still interesting. Plaques are dutifully read, a lack of picnic for the wide hilltop field is bemoaned, and as Jack sets up the Ouija board on the second floor to his exact specifications, Vlad heads up to the roof to keep an eye out for Maddie, who has gone up the road to look for a restroom.

 

There's an obscenely tall safety rail, great beams of iron jutting up into sharp points almost as high as his shoulders, like an old iron fence, with thick stone pillars obscuring the view. Vlad leans his arms onto the horizontal post welded to the iron beams, taking in the view. It's nice, in a rolling hills and treetops sort of way. They sun threatens to leave, and the long shadows are a stunning contrast to the vibrant colors of the wood.

 

Vlad had thought they were alone, but there's a man sitting on one of the pillars, pale and swimming in a leather jacket that’s seen better days. Large clunky boots flirt over the precipice. His hair is long and true blonde, hanging in greasy strands around his pallid face, which under other circumstance could probably be called handsome. As it lies, Vlad has no love for the grungy look, and this man is unshaven and filthy, with bruised eyes and smelling just as much as unwashed body as he does booze.

 

He sways on his dangerous perch, one of those little personal plastic bottles of whiskey sitting empty on the floor below him, another half gone and held loosely in one hand covered in a fingerless glove. The other hand comes up, a little roll of paper pinched tightly between fingertips, and the man takes a long drag of the end that's not burning.

 

It's a familiar smell, pungent and definitely not tobacco, but not nearly strong enough to be anything worth smoking. Vlad can't resist throwing a warning over his shoulder, ready to go back down and tell Jack to delay until the man leaves.

 

“You'll kill yourself like that.”

 

Rather than the angry dismissal he usually gets, the perched man gives a vaguely surprised look down at the joint in his hand.

 

“Really?” He asks, and Vlad's used to the disbelief, the little sneer that goes with it, but something in the tone is to close to curious to be safe. Something pitches in Vlad's stomach, and with a morbid sort of humor, he crosses over the roof, leaning on the stone column next to the one the man is sitting upon.

 

“Really. If you need to throw up the alcohol and you smoke too much, you wont. Good way to get alcohol poisoning.”

 

The blonde glances between the alcohol and the weed before taking a long draw from the bottle, chasing it with another long inhale from the joint.

 

“That bad?” Vlad's not so much curious as he is amused by the overly dramatic behavior. One doesn't perch drunk on a two story building for no reason.

 

“Shut up.” The man snaps, coughing harshly, and he sways dangerously towards the open air. “You don't fucking know what I've been through.”

 

Vlad scoffs, turns away again, but just as quickly as it came the anger burns out again, and the man's voice chases after him.

 

“You guys should go home before the sun sets. Roads are dangerous at night.”

 

“I'm afraid we have plans here for the evening.”

 

“Looking for ghosts, huh?”

 

Vlad turns back around, surprised, and gets an ugly smile in return.

 

“Here.” The other man says, holding out the joint. “I grew up here, so I know all the stories. Aint haunted. All that wailing and lights in the forest everyone talks about is just the teenagers making noise. Did it when I was their age too, sort of a right of passage in some groups.”

 

Disappointment crests, and after only a moments deliberation, Vlad takes the poorly wrapped blunt and pinches it between his lips, which is damp with the man's spit. This was supposed to be a fun night for all of them and Vlad would be the first to admit he's been in a bad mood all day. He needs the pick-me-up, for his own sake if for nothing else.

 

It's bad stuff, weak and probably the cheapest one could find around here. It's also been nearly two years since the last time Vlad took the time to bum some off someone, not into it enough to buy his own, and so the smoke hits him in the chest like a hammer.

 

He sputters, but holds it, and the other man looks a mixture of surprised and impressed with the results.

 

“Mallory.” The man turns just enough to hold out his hand, more apparently to shake than to take back his weed.

 

“Vlad.” He chokes through his closing throat. He's not sure if it was a first name or last. Last, judging by the raises eyebrow. He shakes the offered hand, a little grasp of fingers and a single pump of his arm before he lets go, trying to wipe his hand discreetly on the seat of his pants. The man's hand is shaking, and fairly dripping in moisture.“I expected as much, about the hauntings, but I'd rather you not tell my friends down there. They're very excited.”

 

“Only if you tell me if you actually find something.” Mallory grins when Vlad devolves into a wheezing cough, though the expression is devoid of anything positive. “My girlfriend died around here, so if there is a ghost it's probably her bitching at me.”

 

He puts two and two together, a sad man haunting an odd place, the waring.

 

“The roads?” Vlad finds himself asking, caught in the conversation.

 

“Me.” is the reply, face going flat again. “And my stupid luck. She loves- loved the big city life, but we were passing nearby. I wanted her to see the place my parents were buried, see where I came from, the view,” He gestures towards the swath of trees “I wanted her to love it too. We were going to come up on my bike and party overnight cause we loved to say fuck the rules.” he pauses, takes another mouthful of the booze in his hand. “Came around the corner too fast...”

 

Vlad winces, remembers his own trepidation coming up. Even with a few hours of sunlight left, some of the shadows ran deep, and the road would simply disappear unless you were right on it. He's dreading the drive down.

 

“I skidded a few feet but she went flying, right at the top of the road. Broke her neck on a tree. I fucking killed her.”

 

Vlad's not typically a nice person, not given to fits of empathy. He could tell the man his research on the afterlife, try to give him hope. Empty words of condolence or something just as useless.

 

“Shit.” He says instead, the closest he can come to understanding. Staring at the man, who's trying to cut his choking sobs with the burn of another drink, he knows it doesn't matter what he says now. Could have been today, probably be tomorrow now, but this man has made his peace.

 

“Hey!” The blond starts to sputter, loud and frantic from on top the stone column. He stumbles and uncaring, nearly falls, before jumping back onto the roof in a pile of leather and cloth. “Hey don't touch the bike!”

 

Vlad leans out to look between the metal grating, and sees Maddie, blurry in the distance but no there's doubt that's her hair and bright top, standing next to a Motorcycle that's parked in the grass near the tower. She's fiddling with something on her shirt, leaning over the bike, and Vlad can't tell what she's doing but the hollering has startled her. She looks up at Vlad who's now alone on the roof, waves, and jogs towards the open doorway.

 

There's no drunken screaming bellow him, which he expected, but after only a moment, the leather clad blonde comes racing out the open doorway, patting down the bike before hopping on and driving off.

 

Vlad wonders, between the dark and the booze, if they'll be the ones to call in the wreck that no doubt will ensue latter that night.

 

“It's very pretty, I'm glad we came.” Maddie says, startling him, as she comes up behind him and leans on his shoulder.

 

“Prettier in the Fall, probably.” he replies. He hadn't even heard her. She grunts, curling her freezing fingers into his elbow. They both know they'll probably never come back unless something truly supernatural happens tonight. There's to much to explore out there.

 

_----_

 

“You guys ready?”

 

Vlad and Maddie nod in the candlelight. The sun has set, the security guard has been bribed and begged off. There's a bottle of holy water and a spade in the corner just in case. It's a store bought board, plastic and cardboard, but they still treat it with respect, the planchette resting innocently in it's middle.

 

“Now, we all know the rules, right?” Jack grins out at them, and the effect is very spooky. He'd meticulously measured and measured again the distance between the candles, 13 in all, but even with that many their bodies block most of the light, and the small area between the three of them is dusky, with the occasional bob of illumination across the Ouija Board. The tower is as plain as they expected, a grey stone room with wide, dark, open windows; one stair way leading down into the pitch black first floor, the other filtering down the sparsest of moonlight. It's gloomy, private, the stone walls stealing the heat from the air, and in the end very conductive to the imagination. Looking out at each other over the device, they can see the excitement build, the anticipation, the hint of _maybe._

 

The rules, mostly common sense, is over a page long, and they all can recite it now from heart.

 

They all place only one hand upon the planchette, agreeing beforehand that two hands would make it easier to accidentally lead.

 

“There any ghosts that wanna talk?” Jack booms, and Vlad laughs into his free hand while Maddie glares, the ambiance ruined.

 

“Jack.” She chastises, but here eyes quickly return to the plastic piece on the broad. “If there's any presence here that want to speak to us, please give us a sign.”

 

They each focus on the little plastic piece between them, holding their breath in anticipation, but nothing shifts.

 

Then, with a small, hesitant jolt, it begins to move. It makes a broad sweep, not settling on any letter or number, curving around and around. It makes it's third rotation into a round figure eight by the time it registers. Jack startles in place, suddenly wary, and Maddie has taken her hand off the planchette and is diving for the holy water.

 

Vlad sputters, and then laughs in full force before Maddie is even half way across the room.

 

“Sorry, sorry, I couldn't resist.”

 

“Vlad!” Jack gives an offended cry, even as Maddie swats him across the arm.

 

“Take this seriously, what if it had really been an evil spirit!”

 

“It wasn't me.” Vlad grins around suddenly sharp canines, flashing the dark space between them with bright red light as his eyes glow. “It was a ghost!” She swats at him again, unfazed, before they settle back into their previous position.

 

“Watch. What do you want oh specter?” Vlad hollers into the night. He's got a million quips to answer, some better than others, but before he can the planchette goes shooting from beneath his fingers. Maddie jerks it back and forth across the board in her corner. One, three, one, three, one, three in short hard strokes and Vlad laughs again, pulling it out from under her hand and setting it back into the middle of the board.

 

“Ok, ok, I'll stop.” and she grins at him through the dark, reaching up to play with the little green stone on the end of her necklace.

 

They stay at it for another half an hour, but without Vlad's influence it doesn't move anymore. Even so, Vlad snaps it over the knee and Jack heads into the wood with the spade and holy water.

 

(They head back down the hill, painfully slow, and Vlad is surprised to see no wreckage as they go. He wasn't looking hard, honestly, because searching for the road was much more important to him, but imagine his surprise when they pull into the motel and a faintly familiar bike takes up a space in front of a room a couple of doors down.)

 

_----_

 

“Sorry Jack. We should have saved up and gone to Oregon, like you said.” Elk Mound had been Vlad's idea. One last hurah before the schooling year started again, and every turn had gone wrong some way or another today. Oregon would have taken a while, and some finagling of time and money, but a week stay in a haunted hotel would have been better than this fiasco. They could have done it for Jack's birthday, but there's little chance of it happening before spring break at this point.

 

“Nah.” Jack says, easy going as ever. “You win some you loose some. Can't have success without some failures after all, and this was fun.” Jack's spread out on one of the beds, Vlad the other, and they've cracked open a bottle of wine from the winery while they wait for Maddie to get out of the shower. It's not enough to get them drunk by a long shot, but it sits warm in Vlad's stomach.

 

“Still, one day when I'm rich and famous I'm gonna buy a great big haunted mansion and you can go nuts in it.” Vlad murmurs.

 

“I'll hold you to that.” he hears, but he doesn't reply, half way to sleep.

 

_----_

 

Vlad wakes up shivering to the click of the door, but he waits and waits with a full bladder for that creak, and is rewarded with a bit of muffled yelling, some woody thumps from outside. Vlad finally gives up and goes to knock.

 

But when he sits up and stumbles towards the bathroom, the door is still cracked open and dark, and a glance at the bed across from him reveals that it was Maddie who's stepped out.

 

He pisses, shucks on his jeans, and tosses a shirt on to fight the nights chill, hoping she'll come back in. She probably just stepped out for a bit of fresh air, but they're in a shitty motel in a strange town. None of them need to be out after dark if they can help it, especially if he wasn't dreaming the commotion not to long ago.

 

It takes him a moment to find her, splayed across the roof of the car in her pajamas. No coat, no shoes. Even though it's only late summer, she has to be freezing. Vlad himself tends to be a degree or two above normal now, and even he gives a feeble shiver as the midnight chill makes his breath come out in a puff of steam. She's quiet and still, doesn't acknowledges him as he tugs the door shut behind himself with a small click. He'd half expected whatever midnight check-in to be settling in down the concrete walkway, but there's no one else around.

 

He stands next to the station wagon, waiting for her acknowledgment. She just blinks slowly up at the stars, playing with her little green necklace and ignoring him. Looking up, the stars aren't all that impressive. Probably are out in the forest, but the parking lot has a streetlamp in the far end, and it drowns out most of what would be an impressive view. She's probably half asleep somehow, even though the skin under his hand when he touches her arm is like ice. She jerks it out of his reach before he can really register how cold she is, but she must have started feeling it, because the arm not fiddling with her jewelry comes across her body, hand rubbing sluggishly at her chilled skin.

 

“Sorry about the car, got locked out of the room, ya know?”

 

Vlad frowns, because he'd been listening intently for his chance for the bathroom since she'd closed the door, and hadn't heard any knocking. Surely she hadn't intended to sleep on top of the car? There was no way to get in it without the keys sitting on the tv cabinet in their room.

 

“Must not have heard you, sorry, why don't we go back in-”

 

“Not heard me?” And for all the stillness she was before, like the creaking wood set to snap, she's suddenly a flurry of motion. With a ragged scream she's off the roof and running across the parking lot. She stops just long enough for Vlad to break out of his confused hesitation, to start running after her even as she grabs a fistful of rocks from the gravel parking lot and starts chucking them in the direction of the hotel, hitting one of the doors in the process.

 

“YEAH I BET YOU DIDN'T HEAR ME YOU ASS! YOU GOT A LITTLE BIMBETTE IN THERE JOHNNY? I KNOW YOU'VE GOT SOMEONE IN THERE! LET ME IN YOU BASTARD, LET ME IN!”

 

Vlad grabs her from behind before she can put a stone through one of the windows, trying to pin her arms to her sides even as she writhes and screams like a banshee.

 

Terror squeezes an unrelenting fist around his heart. Confusion takes hold, and it's all he can do to stand there and fight her as he tries to figure out what got her so juiced, what he should do. Is she still drunk? Sleepwalking? A combination of both?

 

Curse Jack. Too heavy a sleeper to be of any use now. It's a few moments, the burst of energy as manic as it was violent, but his arms are screaming by the time she settles, and Vlad's infinitely glad that she hadn't woken Mallory next door. It's none of his business.

 

She turns when she gets some slack, slowly, sinuously, and he lets her, hoping he can trust her enough to not kirk out on him again, to get her back inside for he and Jack to deal with. He nearly opens his mouth to try and convince her gently when her eyes meet his, and all his breath goes hissing out of him in a cold fog.

 

There is quite the discontentment in the spectral community, of how possession should be defined, because more often than not the lines between it and madness are very finely blurred. The chill he can excuse, the screaming and lethargy. But this is something he's seen more than he's comfortable in the last year and change. Red, so very like his own, almost mistakable for their natural violet, were it not for the warm light peeking out from under her lashes.

 

Panic, sudden and sure, because he still has no idea what to do. Relief, because he's connecting the dots very quickly. Even if this isn't Mallory's girl, this is _someone's_ , which means it was once human. Not a demon, who can latch within a person and take hold for generations, but a walk in, a true ghost, who has no more place inside another person's body than without. Even if he's not sure how, this can be fixed.

 

“Hey.” The thing says through Maddie, voice dropping down into something that's supposed to be seductive. It doesn't sound like Maddie at all. “You're cute. Wanna make Johnny jealous?”

 

One of Maddie's arms comes up around his neck, lips coming up to kiss under his jaw even as he frantically grabs for her other hand, her fingers twitching like the legs of a spider as it tries to crawl under the edge of his jeans.

 

“We can make out on his door, he'll have to hear me then. I'll make it worth your while...”

 

“Johnny!” He bursts out, in a moment of panic. It works, in that it pauses in attention. “Your boyfriend's name is Johnny right?”

 

It narrows Maddie's eyes.

 

“How do you know Johnny? Did you know he's got a girl in there? You _covering_ for him?”

 

Vlad is infinitely grateful that he's got this thing's wrist at a bad angle, because Maddie is stronger than him, and the way her hand spasms on his thigh, she would have crushed whatever handful she'd gotten if she'd managed to get her hand down his pants.

 

“I don't _know_ know him,” he starts, and her hand squeezes until his thigh burns under the pressure of her nails. “But he was looking for you earlier! When we were at the Castle, he was there, looking for you! It's where he lost you, right?”

 

It's a long shot, but with how focused it is on the man inside the hotel room it's either him, or a close second. Either way, Vlad can think of no other place they might have picked the specter up.

 

“But, he was so upset when he couldn't find you, he probably passed out drinking. No girl.”

 

Maddie's face turns fond. Not the amused exasperation he's seen on her face before, but a vapid adoration that doesn't fit right. The hand that was clutching his thigh releases, and he loosens it just enough that she can pull it out, using both arms now to wrap around Vlad's neck as she cuddles Maddie's frigged body into his arms.

 

“Promise?”

 

He has no idea. He knows nothing about the man behind the door, though he's willing to bet good money on his first name now. He's probably too consistently drunk to go scamming for a pity fuck at the bar, and Vlad knows literally nothing on prostitutes or whether this town has any. On the other hand, the phantom is too fixated to have been just a suspicion in life. But there could be two clowns and an orangutang in a gimp mask in there for all he cares. Doesn't matter either way.

 

“Promise. So why don't you sit here on his bike, and surprise him in the morning. I'll bet he'd like that?”

 

_Please please please, leave Maddie alone. You don't need her, just stay here._

 

“Yeah, yeah he would. Really works him up when I pull a Playboy cover on him. You're a man, you know what men like, make sure I'm draped all pretty for him ok?”

 

And just like that, she lets him go, hands going behind Maddie's neck to unclasp the little bauble Maddie has been wearing all day. She holds it out to him expectantly, and even as he wonder's where in the world she's gotten it she drops it into his waiting hand. As soon as it does, she drops like the stone, and its only the fact that he's already got an arm around her waist that keeps her from smashing her head.

 

Vlad takes a moment to breath; there's no stopping the shaking.

 

Its very ordinary looking. A little translucent green oval that's too soft to be a rock. There _might_ be a bit of a glow to it, if he held it in the complete darkness of his hand and squinted. It _might_ be just a tad bit cooler than his skin. But there's really nothing to indicate that it's anything more than any of the other plastic baubles that Maddie trades amongst her girlfriends and the little girls and the dojo, and it's frustrating to think that he _should_ have known somehow.

 

That's what makes the decision in the end, it's innocuousness.

 

It's tempting, to just pocket it and take it with them. An opportunity like this doesn't show up every day. It doesn't even show up every lifetime for some parapsychologists. But even as the urge comes he forces himself to stay away from it, the memory of the helpless panic from Maddie's possession still beating hard in his chest. Having theories is one thing, but the resources and proven methods of handling an actual entity is another. He's living proof of reckless behavior and lack of caution. He won't risk Maddie, possessed once already, by keeping it around.

 

It's equally tempting to just crush it under his heel against the concrete. He's pretty sure it's made of resin, and if he can't shatter it with his foot he could certainly do so with a rock. But it's just so... normal looking. He can't imagine it actually holding something a big as an entire person's worth of regret. It might be a failing on his part, but he'd rather not have the ghost haunt them instead of it's old lover because he decided to mess with it's little physical focus point.

 

“Sorry Mallory.” He says, more out of habit than anything resembling the sentiment. “Your problem now.” He takes a moment to hook the clasp on the back so that he can loop the chain a few times over the handlebars, and leaves it there, dangling from the man's bike.

 

Maddie isn't a large woman, but she is dense with muscle. He's probably in the best shape of his life at this point but is by no means at a peak. He's a little out of breath by the time he gets her limp body to the door, and after a little wiggling about doesn't produce his keycard from his pocket he resorts to kicking the door rather than put her on the cold concrete. A few loud thumps from his foot earn him some shuffling from the motel room, a few more some actual movement, and after a moment or so Jack answers in his boxers. (Lord almighty)

 

“Start packing Jack, we're leaving now.”

 

Vlad doesn't waste time watching Jack's thoughts start to boot up through it's sleep muddled state. He shoulders his way past instead, setting Maddie in the still warm dent left by Jack's body and bundles her as best he can. She's started to shiver in the last few moments.

 

“Wha-?” Vlad knows the moment Jack realizes that somethings really wrong, because the divot between his brow deepens and he goes from befuddled into something that's equal parts confusion and protective anger. The mirror to Vlad's own worry is soothing, but the last thing Vlad wants is to stick around for the fallout should there actually be a hooker in the next door room.

 

It would be kinder, to take a moment to explain himself. They probably have more than enough time to even wait for checkout tomorrow. But if Vlad knows either of them, it's that once Maddie awakens she will pick apart the whole scenario until it's laid bare, and that Jack tends not to think things through. Leaving the necklace behind may not be the most interesting solution, but it's probably the smartest, and he's not going to risk either of them pocketing the thing behind his back.

 

“Jack, please.”

 

He holds Jack's gaze for a moments, willing him to just buckle up for once and go with it. He's a little surprised when it works, when Jack just gives him a little nod and starts bagging up their discarded laundry in a plastic bag.

 

It's only the work of a half an hour at most, sweeping complimentary soaps into bulging suitcases, double checking pockets and under beds. Maddie still hasn't woken up, and Vlad isn't to keen on unswaddling her barley warm and shivering body from the cocoon he had built around her, so he has Jack slip her as is into the back seat, and rolls his eyes when Jack throws an extra twenty in with the room tip for taking the bedding.

 

As they pull out of the parking lot, Vlad gives the little green bauble hanging off the handlebars of the motorcycle one last look, but it hasn't changed in the least. For some reason that's just as bad as if it had been gone.

 

It's the middle of the night, and Vlad's faintly hungry and running on quickly fading dredges of adrenaline and not enough sleep, but he feel immediately better when they exit onto the highway. He's not sure how long he'll last, if he'll finally give in and let Jack have the wheel or make it all the way home, but traffic is slow enough at night that he's pretty sure they'll be at the house by sunup. No need for another hotel for sure. His hands are still shaking, but he can drive straight.

 

Jack let's the silence hang until Vlad's fully merged onto the highway, glancing occasionally at their unconscious third, fidgeting as he tries to prop her a little more comfortably against him and digging his hands under the blankets to rub at her gradually warming skin, giving Vlad a chance to speak up before he does it himself.

 

“Soooooo?”

 

“So.” Vlad replies, and wishes it to end there, but the look Jack is giving him in the rear view mirror doesn't give him hope. How much will Maddie remember? How much can he fudge to make Jack drop it? “So the tower was a bit more haunted than we concluded. Maddie must have picked up something while we were up there-”

 

“You saw a ghost!” Vlad avoids swerving when Jack's massive hand grabs the shoulder of his seat and nearly shakes it because he expects it. He doesn't expect Maddie to groan at Jack's movements.

 

“Jack hush!”

 

“No no, I'm awake.” The blankets come to puddle around her waist, and are quickly pulled up again with a shudder. She clutches her head like she has a headache, and Vlad should probably be watching the road, but he can't tear away from her clenching eyelids.

 

_Give me something here Maddie._

 

When her eyes open, dark and bloodshot and _normal_ , Vlad heaves a sigh of relief, the shaky panic in his chest easing just a bit, and lets his eyes rest on the road again.

 

“Maddie, Vlad saw a ghost!” Jack is nearly vibrating in his seat, and ever infectious, Maddie seems to be fallowing.

 

“What? Where? Wait where are we, where's the ghost?”

 

“How much do you remember Maddie?”

 

Maddie opens her mouth to reply, and then stops, and her face twists with confusion. Her hand comes up to play with a necklace no longer there.

 

“I remember dinner, and going to bed, and... but I don't...”

 

Its Jack of the two who puts it together first.

 

“Vlad?”

 

“There's no need to worry, I made it leave.”

 

“How? Why? Vlad you should have woken me up, this was the chance of a lifetime!”

 

“Jack!” It's lucky it's so late at night, that the highway they're on is bare and dark, because it gives Vlad room to swerve off the road as carefully as he can in his anger, to stop the car and shake for a moment. It's frustrating, when Jack didn't see, when Maddie was the one without control and even she looks at him like he's betrayed them both, like he doesn't understand the extent of their dreams. He can't breath.

 

“It got Maddie outside of our room, it could have walked her right into the car and driven off and you and I would have been none the wiser.” It doesn't matter what he knows, the necklace or the man in the tower or anything else. This is what matters. “Maddie you didn't even recognize me, and it was angry and jealous and attached to someone in the hotel. You didn't recognize me, but it wanted to, to, what if someone else had found you?” He twists around and the car is lit crimson from the light of his eyes. “Maddie, it nearly had your hands down my pants before I could blink and it had no idea who I was. What if it had gotten in someone's room, or come across someone else who didn't know better. Maddie you could have been raped!”

 

It should have been satisfying. Vlad is ever aware of their own inflated egos. Not even his accident has been enough to detour Jack and Maddie from their absolute confidence in their abilities. It's not the same. Vlad is fairly sure that there's nothing he can say that will get Jack to see just what he had, to convince Maddie that next time won't be different, but in this at least he can make them see reason, how wrong they were. It should be a victory. In the end, the way Maddie's eyes go distant as she clutches the blankets closer, the look on Jack's face, like he's seeing her tonight for the first time, it's horrifying. Just the idea of some strange man taking advantage of Maddie in such a way makes that twitching ball of terror choke him, makes him regret not crushing that damn necklace when he had the chance. He feels like crying.

 

_----_

 

The ride home is nearly silent. Vlad spares just enough time to fuel up the car and grab some coffee, but it's more to wet down his aching throat than to wake him up. Maddie falls asleep again. Vlad's almost offended, but he also can't bring himself to blame her. For her and Jack the reality of it is still one spot removed from where Vlad was standing, and she's still recovering. She wakes just long enough to chug the scalding hot chocolate Vlad's procured for her, and the heat seems to sooth her.

 

He expects Jack to talk the whole time, to start asking questions, because even now he fairly shines with curiosity, undying and intense as it ever is. Indeed after some of the tension breaks and they're sipping their drinks he opens his mouth. Not to ask how he'd known Maddie was possessed or how he'd gotten rid of it or anything really, just idle chatter about his latest theories and funny work stories and anything Vlad can focus on other than his worry.

 

They make it back in record time. It's still dark when Vlad pulls to the front, lets Jack out to lead a still dozing Maddie up to the apartment, while Vlad finds a temporary parking spot until they take the car back tomorrow. It's only after he does so that he realizes that he probably should have left the car at the door until they were unpacked, but if anyone else want's to do that tonight they can do it without him. He's going to take a nice, long shower and sleep.

 

But before that he's just going to take a moment here in the car....

 

It can't have been more than a few moments, he hadn't expected anyone to actually come down to unpack, but there Jack is, opening his car door before Vlad really has a chance to realize he's there. Vlad's not crying, but the shaky breaths he's been wheezing through are certainly building to it.

 

“You did great Vladdy.” He didn't even know he'd needed to hear it. But once he does, the hard ball of emotion in his chest releases. His throat tastes like metal, and hurts from holding back tears, and when it comes all at once it hurts as much as it feels good.


	4. Subtext

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a good thing Vlad tends to open up a bit more than he used to, or Jack might take him seriously.

Jack Fenton isn't dumb, by any stretch of the imagination.

 

He isn't dumb, but most people think he is.

 

His parent's had always thought he could do better. He's to mentally manic and self indulgent in his studies to test well. More often than not growing up his teacher's had threatened to hold him back a year through one side of the mouth while praising his creativity through the other. It was more likely the teacher's own feelings for having to deal with his antics for another whole year that propelled him through official channels.

 

Even Maddie has her doubts in him. Not that he'd ever tell her, but his parents thought Maddie was probably the worst thing possible for his education. He'd spent years of hard diligence trying to force his focus onto topic's that were the basics of his career, and her willingness to cut him corners and clean up his messes was probably more enabling a problem than anything else in their minds. They probably wouldn't understand, but his troubles in school never got any better. He only showed more effort to remedy it back then but never got results, and this way was happier, less stressful.

 

He loves that about her really. He knows that she's got the one up on him most times, that he doesn't even notice when she tweaks things or second guesses him. Still, he does manage to catch the odd stumble, and feels just a bit unappreciated. The price of happiness he supposes, to let someone else hold up where you're weakest.

 

Friends, ranging from fond schoolyard sports teams to lively college acquaintances, were always surprised whenever he solved some long algorithm or used a word a touch to long for them to find fitting. More than once he's been asked to do it again and again, like his abilities were some trained trick or spectacle.

 

Even his coworkers think him a bit dull. Tom's kid's got a cold and needs Thursday off. Steve hasn't seen his niece in weeks and she's just in town for tonight. Nicky needs the next three weekends, oh and this Monday too, if he could, he knows it's short notice. Herv didn't come in for the third shift in a row, you want his days for a while till we find a replacement?

 

Jack _knows_ most of it is lies, and that he's being worked harder than a good two thirds of the other men, at least. He doesn't take the shifts because he's being duped, he's doing it because if they need the time off that bad, then he'll gladly take the money.

 

Coworkers, friends, family, even his own girlfriend. With some exceptions, he knows they don't do it out of meanness. Heck more often than not it's kind of endearing. But Jack's spent his whole life being told he was dumb, in some way or another and in not as many words, and it stings every time.

 

“Idiot.”

 

Words like that aren't worth pouting over. At least with Vlad he's used to it. Vlad's got one hell of a mean mouth on him, and will absolutely let you know if he doesn't agree with something.

 

His actions are what's important. Jack was supposed to have today off, but Mitch had called to see if he could come in instead for the weekend skeleton crew. Then he was supposed to be home by 3, and ended up sticking around when the guys laying out the driveway fell behind. A few hours shoveling asphalt was still a few hours of pay, and he hadn't fought it. It wasn't stimulating work, just exhausting, so he had no reason to say no really.

 

So he may call Jack an idiot. But he still hangs his coat for him, still unlaces his boots on the nights when Jack just doesn't have it in him. If Jack plays it up a bit, he might even be rewarded with burning fingers easing the tension between his shoulder blades, pinching the hard aching nerves up his neck.

 

“Idiot” Vlad may mummer at him under his breath. But Vlad wields his words like weapons, and sometimes that means that he can't find an edge to them that isn't sharp. So he chases the word away with a damp press of lips to the back of Jack's neck. “You're too smart for this.”

 

Jack doesn't mind, since it comes from a place of caring, and perhaps Vlad is the only person from who it doesn't hurt.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still alive and so is this story. Sorry for the delay. Of the last month or plus of time, I spent one week terribly sick, two covering for my co workers that were also terribly sick, another being cross trained for a second job because the owner of that store and about half her crew were all going on vacation, and any spare writing time was spent on Gamzee week. 
> 
> But yes! I'm still here! I didn't have much time, but I wanted to give you guys something at least when I had the day off to do so. Hopefully once the holidays are over and every is back from vacation my schedule will open up again, but know I'm still planning and writing in the meantime!
> 
> As always if you have any questions about or just want to chat about this AU, feel free to message me at my tumblr. http://nellynee.tumblr.com/
> 
> I have lots of feelings and love to chat!


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